Apothecary: Draco Malfoy
by Shostakovich
Summary: Draco Malfoy is out of options. Theodore Nott is missing. And Marcella Culpeper has one last chance to make her only dream come true. // Two-shot. Part 1 of 3.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hello, readers! I am amazed to say that this is my first Harry Potter fanfiction. Please be gentle with me! (Gentle does not mean "give me no constructive criticism, however! I love constructive criticism, especially since I haven't started a new story in QUITE a while.) I appreciate any time you take to read and review this (and I hope you do review!).

This will be a very short story, two chapters, but it will have two sequels (possibly more). This one focuses on post-war Draco Malfoy.

All original characters, locations, etc belong to me. The rest belongs to JK Rowling.

Thanks again, Alex~

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The first time Draco Malfoy went into Culpeper's Potion Supplies, he wrinkled his nose in distaste. He was eight, and inquisitive, and with his parents on his first real trip to Diagon Alley.

When they stopped at the Apothecary, Narcissa waited outside, a dainty, gloved hand held over her nose. She ushered Draco in behind his father, and the stench of bad eggs and rotten cabbage hit him like a train. He didn't cough, even though he wanted to, but stayed behind his father with his chin held high until his father gestured at him to look around while he spoke to the fellow behind the counter.

So Draco wandered around, gently poking bottles that he could reach, and frowning at the top of a large barrel, wondering what was in it.

"That's beetle eyes."

Draco spun on his heels and frowned at the little girl whose hands were linked behind her back.

"And they're five knuts a scoop." She smiled at him, immensely pleased with herself, and ran out the propped-open door.

Lucius was back with the distinct clink of glass vials rattling in his pockets, and he sniffed. "Children should behave better."

Draco followed him out, and as they headed down the street he saw her again eating ice cream at Florean Fortescue's, the owner himself patting her on the head. He didn't say anything, even though he dearly wanted some sorbet, knowing that his father would scold him.

And that was the last thing Draco Malfoy ever wanted.

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The second time Draco Malfoy goes into Culpeper's Potion Supplies, he is expecting to have to wrinkle his nose again, and is surprised at the almost clean smell.

He is twenty-three now, and he is with his friend Sidney Culpeper, manager of the newly opened Hogsmeade branch of the apothecary and cousin of the owner of the chain.

"Stay here while I go talk to her," Sidney says. Draco nods and looks at a barrel sitting by the door. The little sign above reads, "BEETLE EYES, 5 KNUTS A SCOOP," and he frowns. He doesn't dare look over at the counter, but he hears Sidney ask to speak to the manager.

"Of course. Follow me, please."

He looks out the window as Sidney follows the young woman into the back. A glance at the rest of the store shows no one is there but Draco, and he revels in the silence. He looks up to see a skein of unicorn hairs and runs his fingers through the silky-soft bundle, trying not to remember the time he saw a dead unicorn in the Forbidden Forest.

That was a dozen years ago, and now he is standing in a respectable shop, where a record player is crooning strange holiday music and the window is mostly blocked by a little bush dotted with fairies. The Forbidden Forest is worlds away, and Draco is glad of it.

Eventually the door opens back up, and Sidney comes out with the same girl he followed to the back.

"Draco, this is Marcella Culpeper, the manager. This is Draco Malfoy."

"How do you do," Marcella Culpeper says. She holds out her hand, and Draco hesitates before Sidney's stern look compels him to take it.

He inspects her while their hands are clasped, and he is not sure he likes what he sees. She's pretty enough, to be fair, but she is younger than him, about twenty, and he was not expecting that at all. He cannot imagine her in charge of Sidney. Sidney, who is half a foot taller than this wisp of a girl, and who is so bold and so clever that even Draco respects him.

Marcella Culpeper beckons Sidney behind the counter, and Draco pretends not to listen as they talk about him.

"Sidney, I don't remember him at all."

"Marcella, you owe me more than one favor, and you're always complaining about all your work. Even Grandfather is sick of hearing about it. He agrees with me here, you know. Are you going to disappoint both of us?"

There is a pause, and Draco glances over. Marcella Culpeper looks at him carefully, considering, and then addresses him directly.

"Were you a bully at school?"

He frowns but lifts his chin. "A bit."

"How modest you are. Weren't you in Slytherin?" Draco has nothing to say to that, even though she's smirking, and once she realizes he isn't going to reply, Marcella Culpeper looks him up and down. She sighs, then smiles. "You're hired."


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Part 2 of 2, of part 1 of 3. .

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Also please review with constructive criticism/praise. Both are welcome.

Thanks again! Alex~

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Draco Malfoy is gone, but Sidney has stayed behind. He leans against the counter and inspects his fingernails as Marcella frowns at some paperwork.

"Not all Slytherins are bullies, you know."

She looks up at him. "I know that. I was just teasing."

"He might not know that."

"If he's as smart as you suggest, he would." Sidney sighs, and she rolls her eyes. "Sid, that was a favor to you, but I don't see that I owe you much of anything. Also, I think—"

"I could've contested your father's will for this place, and you think you don't owe me anything?"

"No, I don't."

Sidney is angry, and Marcella knows it.

"Oh, honestly, Sidney. You can't expect to collect on favors that don't go any farther than common courtesy and family loyalty."

"It wasn't either of those."

"Oh, so I suppose it was Grandfather who scared you away? You've always been afraid of him."

"Grandfather only saved your arse because he pities you. You and that muggle grandmother of yours."

That stings, and Sidney knows it. Marcella has always been touchy about her muggle grandmother, the one that pureblooded Sidney doesn't share. She stares at him.

"That was low." She turns away. "I'm done talking to you."

Sidney hesitates a moment, then leaves.

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The next day, Draco meets with Marcella Culpeper at the Leaky Cauldron for lunch.

She beats him there, and he finds her sitting at tiny round table with a steaming mug and a book. She is still wearing the dark red uniform from her shop, and her robe rests neatly on the back of her chair. He is relieved that she was at least organized. He couldn't stand messes.

"You can sit down," she says.

He slides into the chair across from her as she shuts her book. He reads the cover: _Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean_. He is not disappointed.

"How are you?"

Draco doesn't roll his eyes like he usually would. Instead he says, "Fine, thanks." A waiter comes over and asks if he wants anything. "Just a butterbeer."

Marcella crosses her legs and leans back in her chair. "So, Draco Malfoy." She looks at him again with the same appraising look she gave him the day before. "I remember you now. You were in Harry Potter's year."

He nods as the waiter slips a butterbeer in front of him.

"And you weren't very nice to him, nor anyone else, if I remember correctly."

Draco is not sure where the conversation is going, and he isn't sure he likes where it is even now.

"I'm sorry," she says. "I'm just trying to place you." She pauses, and he can tell this pause is loaded. It is loaded like muggle firearms, or loaded like he used to be. She takes a breath, smiles, and the tension is gone. "You're my new assistant manager, then."

"Thank you," he says, and means it.

She waves a hand carelessly. "It's nothing. I need the help, and I suppose you need the job. You seem reliable, at any rate, and Sidney doesn't call people smart without reason."

It is clear from the slight pursing of her lips that she does not care much for Sidney's opinion, no matter how right he is.

"Why didn't you find someone yourself?" he asks. She laughs lightly.

"I'm too proud to go looking for help, Draco." His name slips lightly off her tongue in a way that suggests she's known him for years— which is true, in a way. "Besides, I have a feeling you would have a difficult time getting work elsewhere. Even down Knockturn Alley."

"I suppose you're right." He is stiff; he does not like being told how difficult a situation he is in, and Marcella seems to know much more than the average person. Clearly, she's done her research in the past twenty-four hours. "Sidney and you don't seem to get along."

"No-o." Marcella frowns into her drink. "He thinks he's better than me, being older, more experienced. Among other things." Here her voice dips with something he cannot quite identify. "He thinks the shop should've gone to him when my father died. I don't blame him for thinking so," she adds, for Draco looks about to interrupt, "but I wish he would have done something instead of just thinking about it. Now he thinks I owe him.

"What, you mean he wanted to contest the will?"

"Well, yes. He was working in the store, had been since he graduated. He left after Father died and left it to me, hasn't come back to the shop since. Except yesterday."

"But he runs the shop in Hogsmeade," Draco frowns. He tries to stay unbiased, even though he realizes he owes Sidney more than he owes Marcella. "Or didn't you give it to him? Doesn't that mean something?"

"No, that was an investment. Sidney's a good businessman, even if he's a fairly rotten cousin. He knows I only gave it to him because he'll do well. And— well, I'd rather him not be competition. It's bad business. And my grandfather would get angry if Sidney didn't get _some_ sort of compensation after— well." Marcella stops, and smiles. "I'm boring you."

"Not at all," Draco says. He doesn't quite mean it, though, and she can tell.

"You don't have to lie to me. It's the customers who need to think you're interested." Her smile widens at his surprise. "The customers matter, just once they start on tangents, it can get a bit tiresome. And some of them _always_ go on tangents."

And for the next fifteen minutes, Marcella Culpeper, in an unusual bout of visible good humor, tells Draco Malfoy all about the strange and wonderful regulars at Culpeper's, from the ancient fellow who told the same story each and every time he came to the fat, middle-aged woman experimenting with potions in her basement.

At one point, Draco even laughs, and even though Marcella Culpeper isn't really pureblood, and even though she's not as pretty as he likes his girls, he finds himself glad to have met her.

He'll have to thank Sidney.


End file.
